Mainstream Media Hides Truth About McGovern

Media tributes to George McGovern—the1972 Democratic presidential candidatewho died on October 19 at age 90—do notmention a significant, little-known fact about the three-term United States senator from SouthDakota: After his 1980 re-election defeat, McGovernemerged as an outspoken critic of Israel.

From 1986, McGovern was associated with the Middle East Policy Council, which he chaired from1991 to 1997, an association of academics, former diplomats and intelligence officers, who seek to redirectthe “Israel-first” focus of U.S. foreign policy.

In 1991, McGovern admitted his congressional support for Israel came from “a combination ofconviction and self-interest,” saying he and manycolleagues were “constantly aware of the power of the lobby for that country. Sometimes, against ourbest instincts, we bowed to pressure.”Best remembered for riling New World Order advocates of American global meddling by urging U.S.withdrawal from the Vietnam War, McGovern adopted “Come Home America” as his 1972 campaigntheme, echoing the America-first movementthat opposed U.S. involvement in World War II where McGovern served as a decorated fighter pilot.

Although many smeared McGovern as a “communist”for his views on Vietnam, history shows aremarkable array of respected anti-communists—many of whom opposed U.S. involvement in WorldWar II—also said it would be folly for the U.S. toengage in combat in Southeast Asia.

The list includes Sen. Bob Taft (R-Ohio), Father Charles Coughlin, Generals Robert Wood, HanfordMacNider and Bonner Fellers, publisher Col.Robert McCormick, GOP voices in the House such as Usher Burdick (N.D.), Clare Hoffman (Mich.)and Bruce Barton (N.Y.), Frank Hanighen, founder of the conservative weekly Human Events, nationalistLawrence Dennis and historian Dr. HarryElmer Barnes, among others. In 1961, General Douglas MacArthur—who knew a little about war inAsia—told President John F. Kennedy it would be a mistakefor the U.S. to get involved in a land war in Asia.

Was McGovern a communist? Not hardly. However, the record shows that while he was still in theSenate, the Jewish lobby was suspicious of him.

As early as 1974, The Washington Post’s StephenIsaacs noted in his book Jews in AmericanPolitics that a leading “New York intellectual” saidMcGovern “reminded the Jews of America’s only home-grown anti-Semites: the Populists.”

When McGovern condemned special interests, wrote Isaacs: “It sounded to Jews as if he weretalking about them. Their concern about McGovern was the simple notion that Jews [had] figuredin the life of big-city goyim—they [hadn’t] figuredin the life of small-town South Dakota. . . . [He] had no personal stake in Jews. In short, they saw McGovern as a dumb goy—a Midwestern preacher—and he gave them bad vibes.”

Another Jewish writer said, “it did not take long for word to race through the Jewish communitythat McGovern would not be good for Israel.”

Hyman Bookbinder—a top influence peddler for the American Jewish Committee—warned McGovern’s support for racial quotas was dangerousto Jews—a revelation to those who believe the media claim that Jews were “allied” with blacks oncivil rights issues.

On August 4, Martin Peretz, the stridently pro-Israel longtime publisher of The New Republic(TNR), told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that hebought TNR, “to take back the Democratic Party from the McGovernites,” but charged there’s beena resurgence of McGovernism, particularly toward Israel, under Barack Obama.

Peretz supports what the WSJ referred to as “awillingness to deploy military power to advancenational interests and values” and “an abiding commitment to Israel as a mirror of American ideals”—a roundabout way of describing New WorldOrder-style internationalism and imperialism.

And that’s precisely what McGovern opposed.

Michael Collins Piper is an author, journalist, lecturer and radio show host. He has spoken in Russia, Malaysia, Iran, Abu Dhabi, Japan, Canada and the U.S.

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